CYOA 8

"Of all the things I expected, this was not one of them," Leroy admitted.

"That's a common theme with me," Xander admitted. "Now I have to find out what Benji is like."

"But he's already healed," Julius pointed out.

"I said I'd empower him, not heal him," Xander explained. "Hey Benji, how'd you like to be a magic girl?"

"Oh, Hell no!" Benji yelled jumping back.

Xander laughed. "How about a magic boy then?"

"Like Tuxedo Mask?" Luan asked eagerly.

"Man, that dude is weak," Benji said relaxing a little, "always needing to get rescued. Michael Jackson in Moonwalker is more manly then he is and has cooler skills too!"

"Tell me about him," Xander said grabbing his notepad.

"I used to think the strangest thing I'd ever see was those turtles or their master," Julius said.

"Men make plans and the gods laugh at them," Leroy replied.

"Leroy," Julius said, shaking his head, "no parables before either my third cup of coffee, or my second beer."

"Sorry," Leroy said with a grin.

Vanity looked down at Luna who was starting up at her. "What?"

"Feed me," the cat ordered.

"Tell me why you keep leaving dead mice on my pillow," Vanity ordered.

"Because you can't hunt for shit," Luna replied. "Now, feed me."

"How is it you claim I can't hunt for shit, but I'm the one feeding you?" Vanity pointed out with a smirk.

"You feed me long dead things," Luna pointed out, "and they aren't too bad, but you need a fresh kill every now and again to stay healthy."

"We store out fresh kills in ice so they stay good longer," Vanity explained, "so you keep your kills, alright?"

"I'll think about it," Luna replied. "Now, feed me."

The two men grinned as they watched the children argue about cartoons and costumes while Xander took notes.

"Today is a good day," Leroy said, "and it's only just begun."

"The only way it could be better is if that fire mage was stupid enough to pop his head out of whatever hole he crawled into a year ago," Julius said.

"Amen," Leroy said in agreement, his eyes flashing gold for a moment.

OoOoOoOoOo

"You healed my Granddaughter?" Papa Green asked, while working the pizza oven.

"When you get a blessing like mine, you don't keep it to yourself, you find good people to share it with," Xander said, knowing what Papa Green was really asking.

"You're a good man," the old man said, satisfied.

"I'm trying to be," Xander replied. "Give me a couple of years and we'll know for sure." He passed another pizza to him.

"That's a good attitude to have," he said.

"The place I'm from is dark enough that if you assume you're right and in the light you've probably already wandered a fair bit into the dark," Xander admitted.

"LA?"

"Not far from it," Xander admitted.

"At least it's not Hollywood," Papa Green told him.

"There is that," Xander agreed.

"The movies these days are all filled with sex and violence," Papa Green said with a sigh.

"That they are," Xander agreed with a grin.

"Wasn't like that in my day," Papa Green said, "I had to walk five miles to visit a friend who had a pack of French playing cards to get even a glimpse of nipple. You kids are spoiled."

"Happily, so," Xander agreed.

"Now I use olive oil to grease the pan, but butter, real butter on top and in the bread," Papa Green lectured. "I know they like to complain about cholesterol and blood pressure but I'm an old black man who has never had a heart attack or even high blood pressure, so it it's between me and some skinny college kid with a pony tail…"

"That's a no brainer," Xander agreed. "You're supposed to test theories to find out what's right, not simply parrot others."

"She gone?" he muttered sotto voice.

Xander turned his head and saw Vanity's hair vanishing into the stairwell. "Yeah. Good catch."

"Situational awareness, son. It'll save yer ass."

"Too many new smells and sounds," Xander said, "I didn't have a clue."

"Gotta keep an eye out," Papa Greene said, "I don't keep everything polished just because it looks nice, I do it for several reasons, one of which is it lets me know who's around me at all times."

"What about vampires?" Xander asked.

"My boy and his friend have all but wiped them out around here," Papa Green said proudly, "but even before that there was a reason I made my home above my work, worked a cross into the design of the railing every six inches, and have a discount for clergy who take a moment to bless my parlor."

Xander whistled impressed as he tried his hand at rolling dough.

"Since the local priest liked to eat here it also kept out the mob, since they like to keep tight with the catholic church. I also tempted in the local Rabbi by having kosher ingredients. They say it's racist these days to say Jews are good with money, but I never got any advice in finance that wasn't spot on." He grinned. "You should have heard father Halloran and Rabbi Rosenburg get into it. I learned more listening to them then I could have gotten at the local college and I made sure junior was the one to wait on their table."

"Everything you do has multiple layers to it," Xander said, impressed.

"I once read that some general said 'all roads lead to victory' and it hit me that as long as you always get back up and continue on, that was true," Papa Green said, "but then I thought 'not all those roads are the same length' and how much faster can you travel it if rather than taking one step at a time you took several?"

Xander nodded and listened intently, thinking that Papa Green's training just might be more important than his son's.

The Second day

"You're keeping up very well for someone with little training," Leroy noted as they finished a five mile jog.

"Anime martial artist," Xander replied, "the harder the training, the faster I improve."

"Really?" Leroy said thoughtfully, already altering his plans for training.

"I focused on two things while empowering myself, Anime Martial Artist, and D&D Fighter," Xander explained. "If you know about those two archetypes, you'll have a pretty good idea about what kind of training I can handle and what I am capable of." He took slow deep breaths as he cooled down from their run, sweat dripping from his brow, unlike Leroy who looked like he'd just stepped out of the shower.

"It looks like I have some research to do," Leroy said thoughtfully.

"Ranma ½ and 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons," Xander added, "that's the archetypes I was thinking of."

"I will look them up later, but since you are properly warmed up, now we can begin," Leroy said cheerfully.

"Yeah?" Xander asked cautiously, sensing a trap.

"Yes, now we can run the circuit at full speed!" Leroy said before breaking into a fast run that Xander had to sprint to keep up with.

OoOoOoOoOo

"He alive?" Julius asked idly as Leroy set Xander's sweat drenched form on a picnic table.

"Yes," Leroy replied looking pretty worn out himself, much to Julius' surprise. "He informed me that the harder he trains, the more he will grow completely ignoring human limitations."

"So, you decided to run him into the ground," he said with approval. "How'd he do?"

"Fifty miles or so," Leroy said, "and I made sure to take him over uneven ground."

"Impressive stamina," Julius allowed.

"No, the impressive part was the improvement in his running technique," Leroy disagreed. "His form smoothed out, his breathing improved matching the way I run then slowly adapting it to his body type."

"More impressive," Julius agreed before turning back to the stone pillar he'd wrapped a mattress around and practicing his high kick as he considered the matter.

All around the parking garage his men were doing much the same. Some in the groups who were sitting at battered tables, one going over maps of New York and taking reports from younger teens and another smaller group who were all crippled in some way and were arguing over things they were reading in hand written leather tomes.

"He said he had empowered himself using two archetypes, an anime martial artist from a show called Ranma ½ and the other the fighter class from the second edition of D&D," Leroy explained. He leaned his head to the side to avoid a strike from behind him and backhanded the attacker who dropped with a groan.

"Probably a thing the younger generation likes," Julius said. He prodded the teen on the ground. "Yo, Stillman. What can you tell me about Ranma ½ and 2nd edition D&D fighters?"

The young man slowly sat up. "Monique plays D&D and it'd probably be faster for me to get her and her books then to find out myself. Now, Ranma… that I know about."

"And?" Leroy asked amused.

"What's in it for me?"

"Two months free lessons," Leroy replied, "that way you'll learn more with less bruises than simply attacking me."

"Deal," Stillman said excitedly. "I'll go get the tapes we'll need a TV and VCR."

Julius made a gesture and a young teen ran over. "I need a TV and VCR set up in here, see to it."

"Yes, my shogun!" the teen exclaimed and sprinted off.

"We should probably order some lunch," Leroy suggested.

Xander suddenly sat up, wide awake and energetic. "It's noon, where's Benji?"

"Looks like he's caught his second wind," Julius noted amused. "He's on the second level helping his mother cook lunch."

"He'll need some sort of token with him," Xander said thoughtfully as Julius gestured for a runner to fetch him.

"A token?" Leroy asked curiously.

"It's easier on the soul to empower an item connected to them," Xander explained. "Leaves them more room to grow in whatever direction they choose."

"Hey, it's the Magic man," Benji said as the runner returned with him, his dog leading the way.

"Got your token?" Xander asked.

"And your notebook," Benji said with a smirk.

"Excellent, I'll need that to get it right," Xander said, accepting the notebook and finding Benji had made a few additions.

Xander raised an eyebrow and Benji blushed.

"I'll make it adjustable," he decided, "a little at-will physical alteration."

"Thanks," the boy said, scratching his dog behind its ears so he didn't have to see any knowing smirks.

"Now, where's your token?"

"I got a tat," the boy said, rolling up the sleeve on his shirt to show an expertly drawn rose.

"A tat?" Julius asked squinting at him.

"Luan did it for me, it's not permanent," he quickly explained.

"This will make it permanent," Xander warned, "but it will also make it moveable, so you can use it like a sticker."

"My daughter did that?" Leroy asked surprised.

"Empowerment," Xander reminded him. "A princess must know many things."

"You mind?" Julius asked, gesturing to the notepad.

Xander passed it over.

Leroy and Julius looked over the list of things Xander was planning.

"There's a number of non-combat skills," Leroy noted with approval.

"And the combat ones blend well with them," Julius noted curiously.

"I'm getting better at figuring out how everything fits together," Xander said, "and it works best if it follows the path the soul is already on. There is probably a better way to phrase all of this, but I'm making it up as I go along."

"Master Splinter could probably help you with that," Leroy said thoughtfully.

"Can we do it now?" Benji asked excitedly.

"It looks good," Julius said with approval, passing the notebook back to Xander.

"Anyone got a machete or small sword they don't mind losing?" Xander asked.

A number of gang members dressed in red and black had gathered to watch and one of them passed him a well-worn machete, its handle comprised of eighty percent duct tape.

"This works," Xander said. He stared at the notebook for a moment, flipping to a second page and back before concentrating on Benji. "I dub thee The Terran Knight," Xander said, tapping him once on each shoulder the threads flowing into the skin of the young boy, the machete, and his dog.

Benji's form swelled gaining an inch in height as his clothes rippled and changed to resemble Michael Jackson's Moonwalker character, though made of leather and bronze. The machete thickened and shrunk into the form of a small sword with a black hilt and a red rose design curling around the blade.

Naturally few people noticed this as they were all staring at Benji's dog who had swelled to the size of a Shetland pony.

"I think we missed a page," Julius noted.

"I don't have to ride him into battle, do I?" Benji asked.

*Better to sneak up behind them and rip out their throats,* a mental voice replied.

"Telepathic dog?" someone asked.

"I like dogs," Xander replied, "they are more loyal and dependable than humans."

"Can't argue with that," Julius said, scratching the massive dog behind the ears.

*You can see now?* the dog asked Benji.

"Yep, Luan fixed my eyes," he said with a smile.

*That explains why it's been so hard to walk you into closed doors lately.*

"What?"

Typing by: fyrewolf5

TN: must type it all up quickly, get more chapters out, and force him to keep writing.

AN: It's working!